JP4211249B2 - Current position calculation device, current position display device, navigation device, program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a current position detection technique used for a navigation device, and in which situation the first and second roads are laid in a three-dimensional manner, whether the first or second road is traveling. It relates to the technology to judge.
[0002]
[Prior art]
There are known navigation devices that display the current location of the vehicle as it travels along with the road map on the display, set an appropriate route from the current location to the destination, and provide route guidance. It contributes to the drive.
[0003]
In such display of the current position of the vehicle and route guidance, it is fundamental to detect the current position of the vehicle. In the position detection, in order to perform appropriate route guidance, for example, when there is a general road and a highway laid in parallel above the general road, it is determined which road is running. It has come to be required.
[0004]
On the other hand, conventionally, map data is provided with three-dimensional information and the inclination of the vehicle is detected to determine the approach from the general road to the highway, and conversely the approach from the highway to the general road.
Adding three-dimensional information to map data means that, for example, when road data is defined by nodes, altitude coordinates are added as node coordinates as shown by symbol B in FIG. This is realized by adding inclination information to road data as indicated by symbol C.
[0005]
On the other hand, the vehicle inclination is detected by a dedicated inclination sensor for detecting the inclination or by detecting the direction of gravitational acceleration using an acceleration sensor.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the above-described method has a problem that it is necessary to perform three-dimensional surveying when creating map data, and the cost of creating map data increases. In addition, an increase in the amount of map data information requires an increase in storage capacity, leading to an increase in cost. On the other hand, since it is necessary to add an inclination sensor and an acceleration sensor, the cost also increased in this respect.
[0007]
In the present invention, it is possible to determine which one of the first and second roads is traveling under the situation where the first and second roads are laid in a three-dimensional manner without having three-dimensional information in the map data. It is a first object to make a determination, and in addition, a second object is to make a determination without adding a sensor for detecting inclination.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention]
The present invention pays attention to the fact that, when entering the first road from the first road or from the second road to the first road, the vehicle always travels on the attachment road, and this approach to the attachment road This is the idea of determining whether the vehicle is traveling on the first or second road.
[0009]
And in this invention, when it determines with the driving | running | working locus | trajectory of a vehicle and the typical driving | running | working pattern around an attachment road being similar, the attachment road which connects the 1st and 2nd road is similar. It is determined whether or not the vehicle is in the determined vicinity, and when it is determined that there is an attachment road (claim 1), it is determined that the vehicle has entered the attachment road.
If the approach to the attachment road is determined by this method, it can be determined whether the vehicle is traveling on the first or second road without giving the three-dimensional information to the map data. The objective is achieved. In addition, this method does not determine the inclination of the vehicle, so that it is not necessary to add a sensor for determining the inclination. Therefore, the second object is achieved.
[0010]
Specifically, it is conceivable to generate a travel locus of the vehicle and make a determination associated with the travel locus. In other words, it is conceivable to determine a case where there is an attachment road around a section in which the traveling pattern is determined to be similar in the traveling locus of the vehicle ( claim 2 ). If it does in this way, approach to an attachment road can be judged easily.
[0011]
By the way, the present invention can be realized as an apparatus that performs various processes using the current position detected by the above-described current position detection apparatus. For example, it can be realized as a current position display device having a map display means (claim 3) . In addition, the present position display device is provided, and can be realized as a navigation device that performs predetermined route guidance (claim 4) . At this time, a route re-search may be automatically performed based on the determination result by the road determination means (claim 5) . Thereby, the convenience is improved.
[0012]
In addition, the function which implement | achieves each means of the apparatus mentioned above with a computer can be provided as a program started on the computer side, for example. In the case of such a program, for example, it can be used by recording it on a computer-readable recording medium such as FD, MO, DVD, CD-ROM, hard disk, etc., and loading it into a computer and starting it if necessary. In addition, the ROM or backup RAM may be recorded as a computer-readable recording medium, and the ROM or backup RAM may be incorporated into a computer and used.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited to the following Examples at all, and it cannot be overemphasized that it can implement with a various form in the range which does not deviate from the main point of this invention.
[First embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the vehicle-mounted navigation device 1. The in-vehicle navigation device 1 is configured with a control unit 10 as a center, and a position detector 20, a map data input device 30, an operation switch group 40, an inclination information input device 50, an external device connected to the control unit 10. A memory 60, a drawing unit 70, and an audio output unit 80 are provided. The control unit 10 is configured as a normal computer, and includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an I / O, a bus line for connecting these configurations, and the like.
[0014]
The position detector 20 includes a well-known geomagnetic sensor 21, a gyroscope 22, a distance sensor 23, and a GPS receiver 24 for GPS (Global Positioning System) that detects the position of the vehicle based on radio waves from a satellite. Have.
Since these sensors 21 to 24 have errors of different properties, they are configured to be used while being interpolated by a plurality of sensors. Depending on the accuracy, a part of the above may be used, and further, a steering rotation sensor, a wheel sensor of each rolling wheel, or the like may be used.
[0015]
The map data input device 30 is a device for inputting so-called map matching data and map data for improving the accuracy of position detection. These data are input from a DVD-ROM as a recording medium. Although the DVD-ROM is used in the first embodiment, other media such as a CD-ROM and a memory card may be used.
[0016]
The operation switch group 40 includes a touch switch or a mechanical switch integrated with the display 70a, and is used for various inputs.
The inclination information input device 50 is configured using an inclination sensor that detects the inclination of the vehicle in the front-rear direction, and inputs inclination information based on a signal from the inclination sensor. Note that an acceleration sensor may be used.
[0017]
The external memory 60 is a hard disk device for storing information necessary for executing various processes. However, since it is sufficient if information can be stored, for example, a semiconductor memory device other than the hard disk device may be used.
A display 70a using liquid crystal, CRT, or the like is connected to the drawing unit 70, and information is displayed via the display 70a.
[0018]
A speaker 80a is connected to the audio output unit 80, and voice guidance is performed through the speaker 80a.
With such a configuration, a so-called navigation function is realized. On the screen of the display 70a controlled by the drawing unit 70, the vehicle current location mark input from the position detector 20, the map data input from the map data input device 30, and the guide route and name displayed on the map are displayed. And additional data such as a mark can be displayed in an overlapping manner. In the in-vehicle navigation device 1, when the destination position and the designation of a specific route such as a highway as necessary (that is, designation of a passing point) are input from the operation switch group 40, the destination is designated from the current location. The optimum route to the ground is automatically selected and a so-called guidance route is formed and displayed. Such an optimal route setting is realized by a technique such as the Dijkstra method. Then, after this guidance route is formed and displayed, a guidance voice mainly for route guidance is output by the control unit 10 through the speaker 80a controlled by the voice output unit 80 according to the traveling state of the vehicle. The
[0019]
At this time, in the in-vehicle navigation device 1 of the first embodiment, for example, in a section where a highway is laid in parallel above the general road, the vehicle is traveling on either the general road or the highway. This is characterized in that appropriate guidance based on the determination result is performed. Specifically, this determination is based on the premise that the road being traveled is appropriately determined by map matching or correction of the current position by GPS before reaching the section described above. By executing, it is determined whether an approach from a general road to a highway or an approach from a highway to a general road is performed.
[0020]
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the current position detection process. This current position detection process is repeatedly executed by the control unit 10 at predetermined time intervals.
First, in a first step (hereinafter, steps are simply indicated by symbol S) 100, a travel distance is detected. This process detects the travel distance of the vehicle based on a signal from the distance sensor 23 provided in the position detector 20.
[0021]
In subsequent S110, the traveling direction is detected. Here, the traveling direction of the vehicle is detected based on the geomagnetic sensor 21 and the gyroscope 22 of the position detector 20. The geomagnetic sensor 21 provides an absolute azimuth, while the gyroscope 22 provides a relative azimuth change. Accordingly, the traveling direction is detected by appropriately compensating for each error. As described above, the traveling direction may be detected using only one of the sensors.
[0022]
In the next S120, a travel locus of the vehicle is generated.
In subsequent S130, the vehicle front-rear direction inclination is detected. This is based on the inclination information from the inclination information input device 50. Then, in S140, if a tilt is detected in S130, the travel locus is marked. For example, a predetermined flag is set. As a result, a mark is made on an inclined section of the travel locus that is generated by repeatedly executing the present position detection process.
[0023]
In next S150, it is determined whether or not there is an attachment road in the vicinity of the inclined section. This process is to make a determination based on the road type in the road data. If it is determined that there is an attachment road (S150: YES), the entry to the attachment road is determined in S160, and then the process proceeds to S180. On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no attachment road (S150: NO), normal map matching is performed in S170, and then the process proceeds to S180.
[0024]
In S180, the road on which the vehicle is traveling is determined, and in the subsequent S190, correction by GPS or the like is performed to calculate the current position. Thereafter, the current position detection process is terminated. In S180, for example, if it is determined that the vehicle has entered the attachment road while traveling on the highway, it is determined that the vehicle has been moved from the expressway to the general road. Judging that it got on the road.
[0025]
Based on the current position detected by such current position detection processing, guidance processing is executed, so-called route guidance is performed.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a part of the guidance process. As shown here, in the guidance process, for example, when getting off from a highway to a general road, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is out of the guidance route by the road being judged in S180 (S200). When the route is deviated (S200: YES), the route is automatically searched again (S210).
[0026]
In this way, paying attention to the fact that when traveling from the highway as the first road to the general road as the second road, or when entering the highway from the general road, the vehicle always travels on the attachment road. By judging the approach to the road, it is judged whether the road is traveling on the expressway or the general road. At this time, the approach to the attachment road is performed by determining the case where the attachment road is in the vicinity of the section determined to be inclined in the traveling locus of the vehicle (S150 in FIG. 2). Accordingly, it is possible to determine which road is being driven, such as an expressway or a general road, without giving the map data three-dimensional information.
[0027]
Further, since the route re-search is automatically performed based on the determination result (S200 and S210 in FIG. 3), the convenience is improved.
Note that the control unit 10 of the in-vehicle navigation device 1 of the first embodiment corresponds to “travel locus generating means” and “road determination means”, and S130 in FIG. 2 corresponds to processing as the travel locus generating means. , S150, S160, and S180 correspond to processing as a road determination means. The tilt information input device 50 corresponds to “tilt determination means”, and the drawing unit 70 and the display 70a correspond to “map display means”.
[Second Embodiment]
In the second embodiment, a current position calculation process shown in FIG. 4 is adopted instead of the current position detection process (see FIG. 2) of the first embodiment. Here, only processing different from the current position detection processing shown in FIG. 2 will be described in detail.
[0028]
When the process is started, the travel distance of the vehicle is detected (S300), the travel direction is detected (S310), and a travel locus is generated (S320). This process is the same as the process of S100 to S120 described above.
Then, in the subsequent S330, the travel pattern similarity determination is performed. The traveling pattern is a typical traveling pattern around the attachment road, and is a pattern stored in advance. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the road from the highway to the general road is usually connected from the driving lane of the highway, and the driving pattern first curves to the left and then curves to the right. It becomes the shape to do. Like the arrow indicated by symbol A. Several such typical traveling patterns are prepared, and in S330, similarity determination with a traveling locus is performed.
[0029]
In the next S340, if the similarity determination is made in S330, the travel locus is marked. For example, a predetermined flag is set. As a result, a mark is placed in the similar section of the travel locus that is generated by repeatedly executing the present position detection process.
[0030]
In next S350, it is determined whether or not there is an attachment road in the vicinity of the similar section. This process is to make a determination based on the road type in the road data. If it is determined that there is an attachment road (S350: YES), the entry to the attachment road is determined in S360, and then the process proceeds to S380. On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no attachment road (S350: NO), normal map matching is performed in S370, and thereafter, the process proceeds to S380.
[0031]
In S380 and S390, as in S180 and S190 in FIG. 2, the road on which the vehicle is running is determined, and the current position is calculated by performing correction using GPS or the like. Thereafter, the current position detection process is terminated.
In this way, in the second embodiment, the approach to the attachment road is determined when the attachment road is in the vicinity of the section determined to be similar to the travel pattern in the travel locus of the vehicle. (S350 in FIG. 4). Accordingly, it is possible to determine which road is being driven, such as an expressway or a general road, without giving the map data three-dimensional information. At this time, unlike the first embodiment, since the inclination of the vehicle is not determined, the inclination information input device 50 shown in FIG. 1 is not necessary. As a result, there is no cost increase accompanying the addition of the sensor.
[0032]
As in the first embodiment, if the route is re-searched automatically (S200, S210 in FIG. 3), the convenience is improved.
Note that the control unit 10 of the in-vehicle navigation device 1 of the second embodiment corresponds to “travel locus generation means”, “similarity determination means”, and “road determination means”, and S330 in FIG. The process of S330 corresponds to the process as the similarity determination unit, and S350, S360, and S380 correspond to the process as the road determination unit. The drawing unit 70 and the display 70a correspond to “map display means”.
[Others]
In the first and second embodiments described above, the situation is explained in which the expressway and the general road are three-dimensionally laid, but the first and second roads are three-dimensionally laid regardless of the road type. Needless to say, it is effective under the circumstances.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a current position detection process of the first embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a part of guidance processing;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a current position detection process of the second embodiment.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a traveling pattern around an attachment road.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the structure of conventional road data.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus 10 ... Control part 20 ... Position detector 21 ... Geomagnetic sensor 22 ... Gyroscope 23 ... Distance sensor 24 ... GPS receiver 30 ... Map data input device 40 ... Operation switch group 50 ... Inclination information input device 60 ... External memory 70 ... Drawing unit 70a ... Display 80 ... Audio output unit 80a ... Speaker

Claims (7)

A current position that detects the current position of the vehicle and can determine whether the vehicle is traveling on the first or second road in a situation where the first and second roads are three-dimensionally laid. A detection device,
Traveling locus generating means for generating a traveling locus of the vehicle;
A plurality of typical traveling patterns around the attachment road connecting the first and second roads are stored in advance, and the similarity between the traveling pattern and the traveling locus generated by the traveling locus generating means is determined. Similarity determination means;
Whether the attachment road connecting the first and second roads is in the vicinity determined to be similar by the similarity determination means when the similarity determination means determines that they are similar If it is determined that there is the attached road, it is determined whether the vehicle is traveling on the first or second road by determining that the vehicle has entered the attached road. A current position detecting device comprising a road judging means. In the present position detecting device according to claim 1,
The road determination unit, in the travel locus generated by the travel locus generating unit, if there is the mounting road around the section is judged to be similar in the compounds similar determination means, the mounting current position detection apparatus characterized by determining that it has proceeds enter road. The current position detection device according to claim 1 or 2 ,
Map display means for displaying road map data around the current position of the vehicle detected by the current position detection device as a road map and displaying the current position of the vehicle on the road map in an identifiable manner. A current position display device characterized by that. A current position display device according to claim 3 ,
On the road map displayed on the map display means, the route to the destination set in advance and the current position of the vehicle detected by the current position detection device are displayed in an identifiable manner, and the route to the destination and the vehicle are displayed. A navigation device that performs predetermined route guidance in consideration of the relationship with the current position of the vehicle. The navigation device according to claim 4 , wherein
A navigation device that automatically re-searches the route when it is determined that the route to the destination is deviated based on the determination result by the road determination means. The program for functioning a computer as said each means of the present position detection apparatus of Claim 1 or 2, the present position display apparatus of Claim 3 , or the navigation apparatus of Claim 4 or 5 . A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to claim 6 is recorded.

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